The Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society is embarking on an aggressive funding campaign as it faces what CEO Jackie Roach characterized as financial headwinds, with a $4 million operating deficit last year.
The shelter, west of Santa Fe at 100 Caja Del Rio Road, now has an emergency contract with the city that will expire on June 30. But while negotiating a potential new contract with the city is important, some 75% of its funding has come from public donations in recent years — and the nonprofit is calling on the community to help it get back to revenue neutrality as part of a three-year plan.
“If you’ve ever adopted, fostered, volunteered or felt a connection to our work, now is the time to show your support,” Roach wrote in a recent op-ed published in The New Mexican.
The shelter has been running a deficit for several years now, according to Roach.
The Santa Fe shelter’s budget shortfalls have been cushioned by the large sum of money it has in its reserves — aided by about a $20 million estate donation it received in 2023. According to tax documents, the shelter ended that year with $26 million in revenue as a result.
Still, Roach, who took over as CEO in October, believes the trend of using savings to fund operational expenses is not sustainable and says the organization should instead save that sum to invest in future projects.
The Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society has experienced a rough few years, grappling with space issues, the resignation and subsequent return of four board members, as well as a decline in donations.
That has occurred against the backdrop of a mounting crisis for shelters. The numbers of animals entering such facilities began to climb in 2021, spurring population issues at many shelters. According to Shelter Animals Count, a national database of shelter statistics, an estimated 5.8 million dogs and cats entered shelters in 2024, about a 1% decrease from the previous year.
Shelters in New Mexico continue to struggle with what has been characterized as chronic overcrowding.
The shelter cared for 3,418 animals in 2024, and 2,522 animals were brought in from city and county animal services divisions. It costs about $63 a day to house a dog at the shelter.
Roach said the facility has an average of 10 animals enter each day.
“Typically, 2 to 3 go home to their owner every day, but that means we need to find another positive outcome for 8 every day,” Roach said. “And if you do the math and only four get adopted in a day, now you’ve got [another] four in your population and you’re going to take in another 10 … it adds up really quickly.”
City contract
The shelter’s contract with Santa Fe County was extended for a year in October. Its contract with the city, though, is set to expire June 30. As of yet, the city has not opened its bid process for animal shelter services for the rest of the year, Roach said.
“The city is asking us to go through an [request for proposal] process. We would have hoped to see the RFP by now, but we haven’t seen it,” Roach said. “It’s a little concerning to me that we haven’t seen that yet and the expiration of that contract is looming.”
Roach said the amount the city and county currently pay the shelter is lower than the cost of keeping dogs housed.
“There’s definitely opportunities with the city and county contracts, and it would be nice to close that gap between what we’re spending and what we’re receiving from both the city and the county,” Roach said.
In an email, city spokesperson Regina Ruiz said the city is currently working to complete the request for proposal.
“[It] will issue it as soon as possible to solicit interest from vendors that can provide this service,” Ruiz wrote. “We are planning to have the RFP process complete and a multiyear contract in place no later than July 1, 2025.”
The current tension around the RFP follows a somewhat dramatic moment in November when the shelter, already operating over capacity, announced it could no longer shelter the city’s stray animals because of an expired city contract. A short time later, the shelter and the city reached a temporary agreement to continue services.
Revenue neutrality plan
The reality of revenue not keeping pace with expenses in recent years has prompted Roach and other animal shelter officials to put together a three-year plan in order to get the shelter back on track in terms of being revenue neutral.
Roach did not provide The New Mexican this week with concrete figures on revenue and expenses for 2024 because she said the 2024 financials are not yet final and the shelter’s policy is it doesn’t make financials public until the audit is complete.
Part of the operational deficit comes from some pay increases for staff amid fierce competition for veterinarians, technicians and assistants, as well as some upgrades to its facility, Roach said. Revenue has not kept pace with the cost of goods, and canine adoptions are down right now, Roach said.
The three-year plan includes the boosting shelter’s presence in the community in order to drive up adoption rates and decrease the amount of time dogs spend at the shelter, thereby reducing costs of care and lowering expenses.
“One of the things we haven’t done for a while is really be a part of the community. We are aggressively making sure we are out in the community and can be found,” said Roach, adding “This year, to date, our adoptions are way lower than they were last year.”
The three-year strategy prioritizes financial responsibility, Roach said, while staying true to the organization’s mission and reducing expenses through greater efficiency and mindful spending. Greater community immersion, Roach said, will increase revenue through adoptions.
“We’re being transparent about what we need help with. We’re looking for opportunities internally to streamline and be more efficient and try to cut expenses as well,” Roach said.
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